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India's permanent representative to the UN in
Geneva, A. Gopinathan, defeated Zhang Yan, the
controversial Chinese ambassador to India by 106
votes to 77 in a straight contest Nov 22.
China, which has held the Asian seat without
a break for the last 10 years, had put up Zhang,
who has another claim to fame in India. A few
weeks ago, he is reported to have told a journalist
to "shut up" about cartographic aggression
on India by commercial entities in Beijing.
India has served only once on the JIU, 35 years
ago, from 1968 to 1977. Japan is the only other
Asian country on the powerful body that has the
responsibility for the oversight of the UN.
Although the contest between India, an aspirant
for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council,
and China, one of the "Big Five" in
the council, is seen as "historic",
diplomats suggested that New Delhi had only chosen
to contest on the assumption that China would
not seek re-election as per convention.
But China, which is serving a second five-year
term ending Dec 31, 2012 instead of bowing out
in favour of another state from the same geographical
area, sought re-election for the third time at
the last minute and New Delhi decided to stay
in the contest.
Earlier, Gopinathan, a distinguished career diplomat,
was India's deputy permanent representative in
New York from January 2002 to September 2005.
He has also served as joint secretary (UN) from
August 1997 to December 2001 at the Ministry of
External Affairs in New Delhi.
The JIU is a standing subsidiary organ of the
General Assembly with a mandate covering the United
Nations, its separately administered Funds and
Programmes, and the Specialised Agencies that
have accepted its Statute. It is composed of not
more than 11 Inspectors serving for a term of
five years, renewable once.
(IANS)
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